Campus May Hire Consulting Firm to Examine Operations

On the heels of similar actions taken by other universities nationwide, UC Berkeley is looking into hiring an external consulting firm that officials say has the potential to save the campus upwards of $40 million.

Though the plan is still in its very early stages, campus officials said hiring a consulting firm to facilitate potential cost-saving measures may cost between $2 million and $4 million. However, they say the cost would be outweighed by the savings that could result from implementing an external organization's recommendations.

"It will be a massive undertaking and will look at all areas of Berkeley apart from teaching and research," said Christopher Kutz, a member of the committee handling consulting firm negotiations.

When Kutz, the chair of the Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate, introduced the plan at the senate meeting last week, he referenced a similar effort to reduce costs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Earlier this year, the flagship campus of North Carolina's public university system hired consulting firm Bain & Company to conduct a review of the campus and suggest ways it could improve its operating-cost structure.

After the five-month diagnostic review, the firm recommended the campus redesign its organizational structure, among other options. In a presentation, campus Chancellor Holden Thorp stated the campus will begin determining how it will implement some of the recommendations this fall.

External reviews of both academic programs and administrative practices are nothing new for the UC Berkeley campus, but given the unprecedented financial state of the university, Kutz said this evaluation will be more comprehensive.

"This is a much bigger enterprise," he said. "I think it's an important part of figuring out how to survive these terrible budget cuts."

While campus officials cannot disclose the name of a potential firm since negotiations are ongoing, a steering committee has been handling the plan and is in the process of determining what the duties of the consulting firm will be.

Members of the steering committee include Kutz, Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Vice Chancellor Frank Yeary.

Physics Professor Emeritus Charles Schwartz expressed concern that administrators may just end up evaluating themselves, but said Kutz, as a faculty mediator, seems to be transparent about the process.

"He seemed to be rather open to using this opportunity to do some real investigation," said Schwartz, who in his own research of employment rates found the UC system could potentially save $600 million per year through restructuring its organization, unless the costs were justified.

Kutz said his general role will be to see that the campus faculty understand and are involved in the review process.

He said once a firm is hired, campus officials will do their best to make the evaluation transparent to students, faculty and staff, much in the same way the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a Web site dedicated to budget updates where documents about the Bain report are posted.

"The ability to do this successfully is dependent on its being a wide-open process," Kutz said.

Tags: CONSULTING